Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World

Arrived right on time and looks pretty good.

I am very intrigued by the stories of explorers, inventors, and scientists, and as an artist, I love the feel and stories of color, so I had great hopes for this book. This was an interesting history of William Perkin and his discovery of mauve at the age of eighteen. But it was also a confusing tale. The author frequently and unexpectedly switched from historical to modern times, and it was never totally clear how the people in the two different times periods related to each other.While it was wonderful to read how Perkin's discovery of mauve inspired so many to become chemists, it was very unclear as to how this actually happened. I would have liked a clearer explanation of the chemical processes involved in the creating of the new colors, more detailed information about William Perkin's childhood, and a much more informative discussion of how his discovery specifically led to so many other facets in perfumes, medicine, and other industries.There were so many stories going on in this book, and it was hard to follow many of them in the rambling timelines. And the author continually dropped new names into the story while providing little information about who these people were, what their field of study was, or in which time period they lived.The premise of this book is an excellent one, but my rating of three stars is due to its disjointed nature. The book is almost more of a set of reference notes, providing a list of chemistry reactions, dyes, and names to research further. That said, since I love research, I enjoyed reading the book - and now I'm off to learn more about all the briefly mentioned bits and pieces that changed the world.

I am an interior designer turned quilter and I ordered this book to glean information about the invention of the color Mauve and its impact on color in the world. I was going to do a talk on color to quilters and I wanted more historical information. This book was a fabulous source for the invention of not just mauve, but the invention of the aniline dyes and how they revolutionized the fabric industry. It also refers back to Queen Victoria and how she wore Mauve to her daughter's wedding, setting off a Victorian Craze for the color. If you are looking for some historical details on color, this would be the book to buy and read. I loved it and learned so much.

This book combines information that's interesting to historians and to scientists. I used the ideas presented in this book in my history and science classes to demonstrate the link between the development of technology and the development of fashion. It was one way to get the students who are normally unimpressed with history to perk up a bit when they considered that many of their favorite colors of clothing would not have existed at reasonable prices without the work of this scientist. We had a nice discussion about the ways that little changes, inventions, and persistence can impact world-wide events. I really enjoyed this book.

If you are looking for an engrossing novel, look elsewhere.If you are looking for a series of interconnected historical perspectives on the effects one discovery had on industry as we know it, read on! It really is amazing.Simon Garfield writes clearly and concisely, and while he does explain most of the terminology and technical language which is used throughout the book, some of it the layman is just going to have to use a dictionary (or a search engine) to understand. It is a non-fiction work, and the subject is treated with both respect and humour. The research which went into this book must have been incredible.

Very interesting story of this dye color.

I just finished reading this book. It was such a fascinating read. SO much information! It's dense and maybe not bed-time reading because it requires one to concentrate to take it all in. But that's a good thing. It's not that long, but it holds a lot of interesting, historic information about culture and how things came to be as they are. I learned a lot.

This book came recommended along with Color and Jewels. It was a disappointment to me, but the book was in perfect condition.

MAUVE sounds like an ENGLISH WEATHER FORECASTER stating that the TEMPERATURE will be a little bit FRESHER with a few SHOWERS --which reallymeans it will be MUCH COLDER and POURING with RAIN AGAIN !

Very interesting read. Not a page turner, but then not everything has to be. Well researched.

Should mention more about other dyers such as Dan Dawson